The Real Deal - New York Real Estate News

Déjà vu: New home sales hit 14-year high in August

Posted: 25 Sep 2020 03:35 PM PDT

Last month, new single-family homes were snapped up in numbers not seen since before the Great Recession, following the pace of existing-home sales, which also hit a 14-year high in August. There were 1.01 million newly-built homes sold in August, according to the Census Bureau’s monthly report, which tracks signed contracts and paid deposits. That’s the highest number of sales reported since December 2006, when sales reached an adjusted rate of 1.1 million new homes

Neiman Marcus exits bankruptcy $4B lighter

Posted: 25 Sep 2020 03:15 PM PDT

Neiman Marcus has emerged from bankruptcy just four and a half months after it entered the Chapter 11 restructuring process. The court-led process erased $4 billion in debt that the distressed retailer was holding, along with $200 million in annual interest payments, Reuters reported. The Dallas-based company now has $1.25 billion in debt, down from $5.1 billion. It also left bankruptcy proceedings with a $750 million loan from Credit Suisse, according to the Dallas Morning

Opportunity Zone rule change seeks to entice foreign investors

Posted: 25 Sep 2020 02:50 PM PDT

Potential changes to the rules for Opportunity Zones could soon allow some foreign investors to reap major tax benefits from the program. The Internal Revenue Service is considering new rules pertaining to foreign investors’ ability to defer capital gains in the Opportunity Zones program. The new regulations could be released in December, according to the White House Office of Management and Budget. The extent of the changes is unclear, but experts predict they will be

Rockpoint Group settles alleged rent-stabilization violations for $5M

Posted: 25 Sep 2020 12:00 PM PDT

A Wall Street landlord has settled a lawsuit brought by its tenants over alleged rent-regulation violations. Rockpoint Group, a Boston private equity firm, will pay a $5 million settlement to as many as 4,800 current and former tenants in two Financial District buildings, Crain’s reported. Attorneys representing the tenants at 63 and 67 Wall Street filed a class-action lawsuit in November 2019, alleging that Rockpoint benefited from a state tax program for 14 years while

Back in court: CoStar sues rival over “massive” copyright infringement

Posted: 25 Sep 2020 11:50 AM PDT

CoStar is going after another rival, alleging “flagrant and widespread” copyright infringement. The real estate data giant sued Los Angeles-based CREXi on Friday, saying its employees created fake accounts and accessed the CoStar database over 1 million times. According to the suit, the employees then uploaded at least 10,000 unauthorized images to its own site. “It’s a massive copyright infringement,” CEO Andy Florance told Bisnow, which first reported news of the suit. “It’s actually larger

The self-lockdown lifestyle of AKA’s Larry Korman

Posted: 25 Sep 2020 11:30 AM PDT

Life under quarantine has brought big changes for everyone. For Larry Korman — the head of property development, management and marketing at AKA, the luxury extended-stay brand that he runs with his younger brother Brad — it’s literally been a matter of night and day. Before Covid, Korman, 57, was a night owl, sending out emails as late as 3 a.m. But after six months in lockdown, he’s transformed into an early riser who’s in

John Legend and Chrissy Teigen find roomier digs in Benedict Canyon

Posted: 25 Sep 2020 11:00 AM PDT

John Legend and Chrissy Teigen have bought themselves a roomier home for their growing family. The couple purchased a 10,700-square-foot property in Beverly Hills’ Benedict Canyon, paying $17.5 million, according to the Wall Street Journal. Last month, they listed their 8,500-square-foot Beverly Hills mansion for $24 million. The Benedict Canyon home is new construction and has six bedrooms, with amenities like a home theater, bar, lounge, and a wine cellar. The backyard has a saltwater

Kick off fall with access to TRD’s 2020 Data Book at 15% off

Posted: 25 Sep 2020 10:30 AM PDT

Kick fall off with unlimited access to the only real estate news you need at a price worth falling for. Subscribe today to The Real Deal and, in addition to $27 off an annual digital subscription, you’ll get benefits including: Access to the 2020 Data Book An exclusive invite to monthly Q&As with TRD staffers All of TRD’s news, content and analysis Fewer ads, more content! The Daily Dirt, the subscriber exclusive newsletter that breaks

CoreLogic’s screening algorithm may have discriminated against renters: lawsuit

Posted: 25 Sep 2020 10:00 AM PDT

A federal lawsuit can proceed against a screening company used by a landlord to weed out tenants, a move that may have violated fair housing laws. The lawsuit blames CoreLogic, the company that did the screening, rather than the landlord who hired the firm, The Markup reported. The case could impact who is held responsible for the misdeeds of technology used in property management. Tenant advocates have argued that algorithms replicate human biases — meaning

NYC’s outdoor dining program will become permanent

Posted: 25 Sep 2020 09:51 AM PDT

UPDATED, Sept. 25 2020, 1:21 p.m.: After months of waffling on whether to continue the city’s popular Open Restaurants program, Mayor Bill de Blasio has finally decided that initiative — and thus, year-round outdoor dining — will become a permanent fixture in New York City. The initiative, along with the city’s Open Streets program, was previously set to expire Oct. 31 before returning next summer. Now, it will continue indefinitely. According to the de Blasio

The latest mansion amenity: Clean air

Posted: 25 Sep 2020 09:30 AM PDT

In wildfire-choked California, clean air is now a luxury that can sell a house. Over the last few years, a niche audience of homebuyers and homeowners have eyed top-tier air filtration systems as an added amenity. Now, massive fires raging across the state and the continued threat of Covid-19 have boosted interest in such systems, making them a near necessity in the luxury market, according to the Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles Compass agent Carl

Dezer’s 30-acre megaproject in North Miami Beach gets first approval

Posted: 25 Sep 2020 08:15 AM PDT

A nearly 30-acre mixed-use development that would bring luxury condo towers, a harbor and public promenade secured a key approval from the city of North Miami Beach. Developer Gil Dezer’s plan to transform the Intracoastal Mall will return to the North Miami City Commission next month, after commissioners voted to pass zoning amendments and a 30-year development agreement between the city and developer on first reading after a meeting that stretched past 3 a.m. Friday

Mary Trump sues her family for real estate inheritance “fraud”

Posted: 25 Sep 2020 07:30 AM PDT

In a lawsuit against President Donald Trump and his family, Mary Trump alleges that the family committed fraud with her real estate inheritance. The suit, filed in State Supreme Court in Manhattan, alleges that Donald Trump and his siblings failed to perform their fiduciary duty, and instead squandered Mary Trump’s birthright, the New York Times reported. She contends that Donald Trump and his siblings saddled his late brother Fred Trump Jr.’s real estate portfolio —

Business owners request Open Restaurant plan for retail

Posted: 25 Sep 2020 06:45 AM PDT

Businesses are asking Mayor Bill de Blasio for small retailers to get sidewalk rights like restaurants have. The New York City Business Improvement District Association, which is made up of commercial tenants and property owners, asked the mayor to sign an executive order allowing shops to use the sidewalks to sell goods, Gotham Gazette reported. The group asked that stores be permitted to post more signage as well. In the rest of the country, retail

Another 220 Central Park South condo trades for over $10K psf

Posted: 25 Sep 2020 06:00 AM PDT

For the third time this month, a condominium at 220 Central Park South closed for upwards of $10,000 per square foot. Unit 71 in the tower portion of Vornado Realty Trust’s condo building sold to an unknown buyer for $62.6 million, according to property records. The 5,935-square-foot pad went into contract in August 2018 and finally closed last week. The deal pencils out to $10,550 per square foot. The four-bedroom unit includes a library, dining

Here’s what tenants are paying at SL Green & PGIM’s 11 Madison Ave

Posted: 25 Sep 2020 05:30 AM PDT

When SL Green acquired 11 Madison Avenue for $2.6 billion from the Sapir Organization and CIM Group in 2015, CEO Marc Holliday called the full-block office property a “serious, serious office building” that would establish the firm as a major landlord in Midtown South. The 2.3 million-square-foot Art Deco tower next to Madison Square Park, built in phases between 1932 and 1952, was at one point designed to be the world’s tallest building before the

Louise Sunshine and Fredrik Eklund hold court on selling luxury

Posted: 25 Sep 2020 05:00 AM PDT

Selling luxurious new development is now an online game best played en masse, according to industry veterans Louise Sunshine and Fredrik Eklund. The Sunshine Group founder and Douglas Elliman broker spoke on the latest episode of TRD Talks Live about how and where pandemic-era sales are happening. “It’s been terrible and it’s been a very sad, difficult year but there’s been a lot of, to me, exciting distribution of wealth,” said Eklund. “I mean there’s

The Closing: Carl Weisbrod

Posted: 25 Sep 2020 04:30 AM PDT

Carl Weisbrod has been a fixture in city government for more than four decades. He joined the administration of New York City Mayor John Lindsay as an attorney with the Department of Relocation in 1970 and was later tapped to spearhead the transformation of Times Square while also serving as executive director of the Department of City Planning. Weisbrod went on to found and lead the city’s Economic Development Corporation in the 1990s, where he

Here’s how Industry City’s controversial rezoning unraveled

Posted: 25 Sep 2020 04:00 AM PDT

Industry City was once set to become one of the biggest manufacturing hubs — and, with any luck, job creators — in Brooklyn. Now, it’s the latest example of a major development that couldn’t get through New York City’s political gauntlet. This week saw a crushing setback for the 35-acre campus: The development team — a partnership between Jamestown Properties, Belvedere Capital, Cammeby’s International and Angelo, Gordon & Co. — abandoned its plans to rezone